Author: Landshark

DIY Landbased Livewell Project

Winter time can be a drag for us fishermen along the east coast, as cold fronts often generate strong winds and big waves. This results in lots of downtime, tackle maintenance and thinking of ways to prep for the calmer months ahead.

Live bait is crucial to fishing offshore in many areas of the world, and S. Florida is no exception. I recently made a video covering how to make a DIY Homemade live bait well, that will serve me in the months to come.

A livewell is simply any durable container which can hold water and has some sort of either aeration or circulating pump. Aerators are fine for many situations, but do not provide circulating water and can result in overheating of your water. A circulating bait pump or even a bilge pump, will act not only as an aerator as the outflow of water hits the surface of the water, but also moves your water around and cools it off as it hits the air. I prefer a circulating pump over an aerator unless, you have something simple like live shrimp then an aerator will be fine.

The video show three different containers that can be used as wells, in various sizes. Wells can get expensive so it helps to get creative and do some searching for less expensive options than the traditional livewell you find in stores.

If you decide to go the circulating pump route, You will want to put the input/pump on the bottom of the well and the outflow near the surface making sure the water is able to oxygenate the waters surface. Marine grade sealants such as 3M's 5200 makes a good durable long lasting seal between your pump and the well.This is also explained well in the video.

Winter for me and many means prepping for the months ahead, and a livewell is a perfect downtime project!

We Help Millions Of Anglers Spend More Time Fishing

We hope that you enjoyed this article on the Bullbuster Community. It is our mission to help millions of anglers spend more time fishing and that starts with YOU!